Jewelry chains are usually formed from separate links that are intertwined or interengaged in some fashion to produce an aesthetically appealing article. Chain links come in all shapes, sizes, cross-sections and configurations, depending on the desired final product and the method of making the same. For example, so-called rope chains are commonly created by intertwining solid or hollow links via gaps in such links. The appearance of such rope chain may be further enhanced by polishing, faceting or the like. The methods in which individual links are intertwined via gaps in such links to ultimately form a helical rope-like structure are covered in numerous patent documents, including U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,517 to Benhamou et al. and others.
The inventive links that form the chain of the instant invention are formed from spiral-shaped coils. Typical coil chains are made of turns of spirals that are interconnected one to another. U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,038 to Rozenwasser shows one such typical coil chain. U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,238 to Kahan shows another. In these cases, each coil is formed from a certain number of turns, complete or incomplete, according to a certain formula of turns per coil, coils per link grouping and link groupings per chain. In each case, the coils are unchanged after completion, such that each spiral has uniform dimensional characteristics such as spiral diameter and thickness.
The present invention comprises a different way of forming a jewelry chain section having a spirally twisted appearance that differs from a standard coil chain section. After a standard coil is formed on a mandrel, support or the like, the individual spirals that form the coil section are rotated or twisted relative to each other, resulting in a compilation of spirals that appear staggered when the chain section is viewed as a whole. The twisted movement of the individual spirals is maintained after the chain section is completed, resulting in a twisted chain section that differs significantly in appearance from a standard coil.